Josh Sheehan is determined to revive his Wales career after injury destroyed his World Cup dream and provoked the “dark days” that followed.
Bolton midfielder Sheehan won his fourth Wales cap – and his first for two years – by coming on as a second-half substitute in the 0-0 friendly draw with South Korea on Thursday.
It was reward for a tough journey that began on November 17, 2021 – a date inked in Sheehan’s mind.
“An FA Cup game against Stockport, I was running down the line against their full-back and he just gave me a little nudge,” said the 28-year-old from Carmarthenshire.
“I felt something in my leg, and it just went. I went down for a second and then I carried on for five minutes, but every time I felt like turning it would give way.
“I should have come off thinking about it now. But I’m not the type of player to go down and go off, I’d rather just try and get through.”
The reality was that Sheehan had ruptured an anterior cruciate ligament and would spend nine months out of the game.
Sheehan’s return to league football at Bolton came just weeks before Wales went to Qatar for their first World Cup in 64 years and time was against him to make Rob Page’s squad.
He said: “It was a tough ask to come back and hit my peak straight away. A tough ask for any player.
“It’s disappointing because sometimes a World Cup is a once in a lifetime thing, and there are a lot of dark days when you have that sort of injury.
“A dark day would be when the boys are all out training, and you’re just watching from the side or you’re in the gym.
“Sometimes I would literally be on my own because the physio would be with someone else – and it’s such a long injury.
“There’s no rush to get back, but you still have to do everything to the top level and perfect each section coming back from the injury.
“Watching games at 3pm on Saturday in the stands knowing you can’t affect the game, that’s probably the dark days mentally.”
Sheehan said he got through the rehabilitation process with the help of family and friends – “I’ve got a little daughter and that takes your mind away from football” – and he eventually helped Bolton into the League One play-offs last season.
Kicking on this term sealed the return of the Swansea product and former Newport player to the Wales squad during a vital stage of Euro 2024 qualification.
Wales play Latvia in Riga on Monday knowing three points is essential to keep alive hopes of a top-two place in Group D.
“How I was playing before the injury, I was doing as much as I could, scoring goals at Bolton,” Sheehan said.
“It’s disappointing (what happened), but you move on and use it as motivation.
“We all know what we have to do in Latvia. We know what our game plan is, and as long as we stick to it, we know we’re good enough to win.”
Van Dijk hails Hungary 'strength' for playing on after coach collapse
Virgil van Dijk saluted Hungary for playing on after assistant coach Adam Szalai appeared to suffer a fit during their Nations League clash.
Play was suspended for 13 minutes at the Johan Cruijff ArenA while Szalai was treated pitchside, with staff and substitutes forming a protective barrier around him.
The 36-year-old was taken to Amsterdam Hospital, where he later revealed he was "doing well" on his social media channels.
Although Hungary agreed to play on, the Netherlands ran out comfortable 4-0 winners to book their place in the Nations League quarter-finals.
Wout Weghorst and Cody Gakpo were on target from the penalty spot during the first half, while goals from Denzel Dumfries and Teun Koopmeiners after the break saw the Oranje secure second place in Group A3.
And Van Dijk paid tribute to his side's opponents.
"That was quite a shock, of course," he told NOS. "You see someone lying down, you see someone shaking. That is quite scary. But thankfully, at a certain point, it became clear that he was stable. I hope he is doing well and that he recovers quickly.
"They had to decide whether they wanted to continue playing. I think it shows a lot of strength that they did carry on. I have a lot of respect for that."
On his side's performance, Van Dijk added: "The pitch was very fast, but that's no excuse. It was sloppy.
"In the end, we won deservedly and that's the most important thing. We go to the quarter-finals, we win, we keep a clean sheet."
Real Madrid 0-4 Barcelona: Guijarro brace sets visitors up for Clasico glory
Patri Guijarro's first-half brace set Barcelona on their way to a thumping 4-0 win over rivals Real Madrid in Liga F on Saturday.
Claudia Pina and Alexia Putellas were also on target as Barcelona continued their perfect start to the season, extending their lead at the top of the table.
The visitors dominated from the off, as Guijarro broke the deadlock inside the fourth minute, tapping in from Putellas' flick-on from a corner.
Cata Coll was forced into a big save to deny Alba Redondo an equaliser shortly after, but Madrid's hope was soon dented as Guijarro picked out the bottom corner with a superb long-range strike for her second.
Pina strengthened their lead six minutes before the break, clinically slotting past Misa with her low strike.
Putellas added some more gloss to the scoreline with four minutes remaining of normal time, beating the Madrid keeper with a lovely dink to bring up her 199th goal for the club.
Barcelona have won all 10 of their games, and now sit eight points clear of Madrid, who suffered their first league defeat of the campaign.
Data Debrief: Total dominance
Madrid will have felt fairly confident coming into this game after a strong start to their season, but they once again failed to find a way past their Clasico rival.
Los Blancos have lost every single game they have played against Barcelona in all competitions, with this their 15th such meeting.
Barcelona smothered their attack early on, restricting their hosts to just one shot in the first half, while they had 10.
Indonesia 0-4 Japan: Visitors stay unbeaten with rout
Japan continued their unbeaten start to World Cup qualifying with a 4-0 victory over Indonesia on Friday.
Two goals from the visitors in either half were enough to seal the three points and get them back to winning ways after a stalemate with Australia last time out.
Ragnar Oratmangoen should have put Indonesia ahead, but he hesitated one-on-one with the goalkeeper, and Japan did not look back after that. They got a bit of fortune with their first goal, Justin Hubner deflecting a cross into his own net in the 35th minute.
Takumi Minamino got their second just before the break, finishing off a pacy counter-attack by darting onto the end of Kaoru Mitoma’s cross to sweep it past Maarten Paes.
While there was not much the goalkeeper could do with that one, he was at fault for the third as he gifted the ball to Hidemasa Morita, who coolly picked out the bottom corner just after the break.
Yukinari Sugawara came off the bench to round off the scoring in the 69th minute. He raced down the right wing and instead of looking to his options, he rifled it in from a tight angle at the near post.
Japan are up to 13 points after five games, sitting top of Group C, while Indonesia are bottom, still in search of their first win.
Data Debrief: Clinically done
For a team still chasing their first win, Japan are probably not high on the list of opponents they would want to face, and Indonesia were undone by their visitors.
Hajime Moriyasu's side created 0.79 expected goals (xG) to Indonesia's 0.72, while they only had four more shots than their hosts (12 compared to eight).
Japan took their chances, and though the win margin may look harsh, they were deserving of the three points, having dominated throughout the game.
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